Carysfort Reef Light
Location | Carysfort Reef Key Largo Florida United States | |
---|---|---|
Coordinates | 25°13′19.01″N 80°12′41.22″W / 25.2219472°N 80.2114500°W | |
Tower | ||
Constructed | 1825 (lightships) | |
Foundation | iron pile lighthouse | |
Construction | wrought iron tower | |
Automated | 1960 | |
Height | 120 feet (37 m)[1] | |
Shape | octagonal pyramidal skeletal tower with 2-story keeper's quarter, balcony and lantern | |
Markings | red tower, white lantern and keeper's quarter roof | |
Operator | United States Coast Guard[2]
Racon "C" (—·—·) | |
Light | ||
First lit | 1852 (current) | |
Deactivated | 2015 (active as daybeacon) | |
Focal height | 100 feet (30 m) | |
Lens | 18 lamps with reflectors (1852), first order Fresnel lens (1858) | |
Range | white: 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) red 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi) | |
Characteristic | Fl (3) W 60s. with red sectors | |
Carysfort Lighthouse | ||
Nearest city | Key Largo, Florida | |
Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) | |
Built | 1848 | |
Built by | Merrick & Sons | |
Engineer | Howard Stansbury, George Meade | |
NRHP reference No. | 84000199[4] | |
Added to NRHP | October 31, 1984 |
Carysfort Reef Light is located east of
The reef
Carysfort Reef is named for HMS Carysfort (1766), a 28-gun Royal Navy post ship that ran aground on the reef in 1770. The reef is one of the most dangerous on the Florida Reef tract which parallels the Florida Keys. Of the 324 ships that were known to have wrecked on the Florida Reef from 1833 through 1841 (during the period the lightship Florida was stationed at the reef), 63 did so on Carysfort Reef. The United States Lighthouse Board reported that "Carysfort Reef picks up twenty percent of all the wrecks between Cape Florida and the Tortugas, a space of 200 miles (320 km)."[7]
Lightships
A survey of the Florida Keys in 1823 to locate sites for potential lighthouses and other aids to navigation produced a recommendation that a "floating light", or
In 1830 Whalton became concerned about the condition of the Caesar, and sailed it to Key West for a survey. The ship was found to be "an entire mass of dry rot and fungus". The contract to build a replacement ship was awarded to the same builder that had built the Caesar. The new 225-ton ship was named Florida. It had two lanterns that were supposed to be visible for 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi). The forward lantern was set at a height of 40 feet (12 m), the aft lantern 30 feet (9.1 m), above the water. Completed in November 1830, the Florida arrived on station early in 1831, with John Whalton as keeper.[9]
Duty on a lightship far from any inhabited place was hard. Whalton's wife and children, who lived in Key West, would visit the lightship for a few days at a time. In September 1835, the Florida was severely damaged in a hurricane, with the lanterns broken, but the ship was repaired. Just three months later, the
Ship captains complained about the poor quality of the light provided by the lightships. Some complained that they had run onto a reef, because they thought they were 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) from the light, when they were only 2 or 3 nautical miles (3.7 or 5.6 km; 2.3 or 3.5 mi) away. Some captains thought that the lights on the lightship were deliberately dimmed or extinguished in collusion with wreckers. One captain reported rumors that oil for the lanterns was being traded to wreckers.[11]
New lighthouse
Construction of the tower on the reef began in 1848, supervised by Captain Howard Stansbury (at the time, U.S. Army and Navy officers were assigned as lighthouse inspectors). He was replaced by Major Thomas Linnard, who died during the construction. In 1851, Lieutenant George Meade was assigned to complete the project. Meade had previously assisted in the design and construction of lighthouses in Delaware Bay, and surveyed and charted the Florida reefs, but this was his first command of a lighthouse project. Construction had originally been expected to be completed in a year, but funds had been held up while the U.S. Congress investigated the Lighthouse Service. After the necessary funds had been appropriated, Meade completed construction of the tower at the end of July 1852.[14]
Original light apparatus
The original light apparatus consisted of 18 lamps, each with a 21 inches (530 mm) diameter reflector. The light was intended to have a Fresnel lens, but the one ordered for Carysfort Reef had been stored at the New York Custom House while the lighthouse was under construction, and had been sold before completion of the lighthouse. Meade was forced to use a catoptric reflector system. He worked to optimize the systrem provided, adjusting it and adding mirrors. The Carysfort Reef Light was fixed (not revolving). Meade asked the Lighthouse Board to provide Carysfort Reef with a revolving light, as the Cape Florida Light, the closest light at 40 miles (64 km) away, was also a fixed light, and he was concerned that ships might confuse the two. A revolving lens apparatus with a first-order Fresnel lens, manuafactured by Henry-Leguate of Paris, was installed in the light in 1858.[15][13]
As of 1982, Carysfort Reef Light had a third-order Fresnel lens.[16]
Head keepers
- Courtland P. Williams (1852 – 1853)
- William Richardson (1853 – 1854)
- Ezra Harris (1854 – 1856)
- Martin McIntyre (1856 – 1858)
- William C. Green (1858 – 1860)
- John Jones (1860 – 1863)
- Charles Bowman (1863 – 1866)
- Charles W. Russell (1866)
- Harry W. Ramsdell (1866 – 1869)
- Edward Bell (1869 – 1881)
- H.W. Magill (1881)
- Fred A. Brost (1881 – 1885)
- Martin Weatherford (1885 – 1886)
- William Lester (1886 – 1894)
- Francis McNulty (1894 – 1903)
- Miguel Fabal (1903 – at least 1912)
- Charles H. Williams (at least 1913)
- Charles Johnson (1915 – ),
- Thomas L. Kelly (1918 – 1919)
- William H. Curry (1919)
- Thomas L. Kelly (1919 – 1922)
- Captain Pierce ( – 1927)
- Alexander B. Jenks (1927 – at least 1936)
- Leonard L. Galloway (1940 – at least 1941)
- Wallace L. Lester (1942 – at least 1948)[17]
Availability
On February 1, 2019 it was announced that the lighthouse would be given away freely to any government agencies, educational agencies, non-profit corporations, or any community development organizations who wanted to use it for "educational, park, recreational, cultural or historic preservation purposes." This is in accordance with the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. If none request it, then it will be auctioned off to anyone else who does.[18]
See also
References
- ^ National Park Service, "Carysforth Light". Inventory of Historic Light Stations. Retrieved on 2010-08-28.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Eastern Florida and the Keys". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ^ Florida Historic Light Station Information & Photography United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 30 June 2016
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
- ^ Light List, Volume III, Atlantic Coast, Little River, South Carolina to Econfina River, Florida (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2009. p. 8.
- ^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Florida". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
- ^ McCarthy 1990, p. 49; Dean 1982, pp. 23–24.
- ^ McCarthy 1990, pp. 49–51; Swanson 2005, p. 14; Viele 1996, pp. 36–38.
- ^ Dean 1982, p. 26; Viele 1996, p. 38.
- ^ Viele 1996, p. 37-40.
- ^ Dean 1982, p. 26; Viele 2001, pp. 155, 157.
- ^ Dean 1982, pp. 30, 62.
- ^ a b "Carysfort Reef Light". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ Dean 1982, pp. 30, 32.
- ^ Dean 1982, p. 33.
- ^ Dean 1982, p. 67.
- ^ Carysfort Reef, FL Archived September 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved 30 June 2016
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Sources
- Dean, Love (1982). Reef Lights: Seaswept Lighthouses of the Florida Keys. ISBN 0-943528-03-8..
- McCarthy, Kevin M. (1990). Florida Lighthouses. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press. ISBN 0-8130-0993-6.(pp. 41–44)
- Swanson, Gail (2005). Slave Ship Guerrero. West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Infinity Publishing. ISBN 0-7414-2765-6.
- Viele, John (1996). The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers. Sarasota, Florida: ISBN 1-56164-101-4.
- Viele, John (2001). The Florida Keys: The Wreckers. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press. ISBN 1-56164-219-3.
External links
- Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundation Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine